Revealed: How you can ride away on a bike costing 8p per day in Wolverhampton

The scheme will help ease congestion, get more people cycling and help create more than 50 jobs in the city.

With 2,000 bikes set to be available 24 hours a day, the ‘Bike Share’ project is set to be rolled out across other parts of the West Midlands in 2019.

A public consultation into the initiative is getting under way.

Proposed bicycle bays will be located at the Britannia Hotel, Civic Centre, the New Market, Sainsbury’s on the Ring Road, Compton Road, Magistrates Court, Molineux, The Way, West Park, St John’s and St George’s.

Wolverhampton Council leader, Councillor Roger Lawrence, said: “Cities like Amsterdam and towns right across Europe have schemes such as this and use it as a unique way of cutting congestion and driving up participation in cycling.

“It’s high time we had a similar thing in the West Midlands and I am delighted that Wolverhampton, will be among the first places to see the bikes in action.

“We will be creating more than 50 new jobs across the area and we will be partnering with the Walsall-based ‘Steps to Work’ charity to help fill the roles.

“They work with long-term unemployed and young people currently not in education or employment amongst others, and these are groups that we are passionate about reaching, retraining and recruiting.”

Annual membership to the scheme will cost £30 per year, meaning riders can access bikes for as little as 8p per day.

Operated by nextbike UK, which also runs several other schemes in the UK as well as internationally,  the West Midlands bike share project will expand across Birmingham, Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry next year with 3,000 more bikes becoming available.

Managing Director of nextbike UK, Julian Scriven, said the scheme would be the “most technologically-advanced and forward-thinking bike-share in the UK”.

For more information, visit nextbike.co.uk/westmidlands or email bikeshare@wolverhampton.gov.uk

By Joe Sweeney

Local Democracy Reporter